• About
  • Join the Co-op / Donate
  • Contact
Monday, May 12, 2025
Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
The Brief
NB MEDIA CO-OP
Share a story
  • Articles en français
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Gender
  • Politics
  • Culture
  • Videos
  • NB debrief
  • Articles en français
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Gender
  • Politics
  • Culture
  • Videos
  • NB debrief
No Result
View All Result
NB MEDIA CO-OP
No Result
View All Result
Home *Opinion*

“Not the time for small goals”: Corbett calls for major forest management reform at Standing Committee meeting on glyphosate use

Recommendations include scaling back clearcutting, banning glyphosate, and enacting new Crown Lands and Forests Act based on nature protection and fairness

by Jon MacNeill
June 24, 2021
Reading Time: 3min read
“Not the time for small goals”: Corbett calls for major forest management reform at Standing Committee meeting on glyphosate use

Lois Corbett is the executive director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick. Photo: NB Media Co-op archives

Traditional Land of Wabanaki People/Fredericton – Lois Corbett told MLAs on the Standing Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship on Tuesday, June 22 that they need to stand with citizens and scientists in calling for an end to glyphosate use in the Crown forest.

The executive director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick presented to the committee as part of its meetings this week to hear from experts about herbicide use in the forest.

She said overwhelming public support for an end to herbicide spraying in our woods, new scientific evidence showing glyphosate’s effects on plants, animals and its long-term presence in rivers and watersheds, and mounting lawsuits related to the human health impact of glyphosate, must compel the committee members follow the lead of jurisdictions across the world in banning glyphosate-based herbicides.

“You’re going to hear from industry, ‘We can’t do things differently,’” Corbett told committee members. “I don’t buy it. There are a lot of smart foresters in this province, there is a lot of talent within the industry. If they put their mind to it, they can do it. But if we don’t have legislators standing up with citizens and scientists saying we have to do this, industry will not change.”

Corbett noted Québec banned glyphosate on its Crown forests in 2001 and maintains a productive forestry industry, with thinning crews doing the job herbicides once did. A review of Québec’s practices following the ban found that its new strategy “is an asset in the implementation of ecosystem-based management.”

Corbett also recommended the committee call on the legislature to update the 30-year-old Crown Lands and Forests Act with a focus on fairness for private woodlot owners and First Nations and nature protection at its core.

“Like a crutch when you have a broken leg, herbicides are a symptom of a broader problem: large-scale clearcutting and an outdated forest management strategy.

“We have the climate change crisis. We have a crisis in nature. We have First Nations and private woodlot owners demanding fairness, and we have overwhelming public support for change. This is not the time for small goals. It’s time to do what the forests and wildlife needs, what our citizens want, and what New Brunswickers’ deserve.”

Watch Corbett’s presentation to the committee here: English | French.

Jon MacNeill is the communications director for the Conservation Council of New Brunswick. 

Tags: Climate ChangeConservation Council of New BrunswickCrown forestCrown landsforest sprayingforestryglyphosateherbicideJon MacNeillLois Corbettsprayingtanding Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship
TweetSend

Related Posts

A call for the University of New Brunswick to show leadership
Environment

Environmental policy should be at the heart of Canada’s federal election debate

April 18, 2025

Federal election campaigns are well underway, and the biggest ballot box issues are affordability and U.S. tariffs. Rising interest rates,...

Tantramar Council orders annual glyphosate testing of Sackville and Dorchester drinking water
Environment

Tantramar Council orders annual glyphosate testing of Sackville and Dorchester drinking water

February 7, 2025

Tantramar Town Council resisted advice from Town Engineer Jon Eppell on Tuesday and ordered that drinking water in Sackville and...

Riverview to purchase new buses, overhaul public transit system [video]
New Brunswick

Riverview to purchase new buses, overhaul public transit system [video]

January 20, 2025

The Town of Riverview plans to buy a pair of new buses, while also improving transit shelters, hiring a coordinator,...

Five hundred people take to Halifax’s streets in support of the Wet’suwet’en
Climate change

Can climate action be decolonized?

November 4, 2024

When Indigenous scholars Eve Tuck and Wayne Yang famously wrote: "decolonization is not a metaphor," they meant that true decolonization...

Load More

Recommended

Province’s lakes at risk to metal mining effluent

Sisson mine and other ‘nation building projects’ require Indigenous consent: Wolastoq Grand Council

6 days ago
Nora Loreto traces corporate takeover of Canadian politics in latest book [video]

Nora Loreto traces corporate takeover of Canadian politics in latest book [video]

6 days ago
Vox pop: What do New Brunswickers think about corporate power?

Vox pop: What do New Brunswickers think about corporate power?

3 days ago
NB Media Co-op

© 2019 NB Media Co-op. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Join the Co-op / Donate
  • Contact
  • Share a Story
  • Calendar
  • Archives

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • Join the Co-op / Donate
  • Contact
  • Share a Story
  • COVID-19
  • Videos
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Arts & Culture
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Politics
  • Rural

© 2019 NB Media Co-op. All rights reserved.

X
Did you like this article? Support the NB Media Co-op! Vous avez aimé cet article ? Soutenez la Coop Média NB !
Join/Donate